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The bitter legacy of the Western Ukraine.

The Anna Raccoon Archives

by Anna Raccoon on May 12, 2014

Amid the hysterical counter claims from the ‘interim government’ in Kiev supported by $5bn dollars of American money which chased the duly democratically elected government out of town and now condemns as ‘criminal’ the people of Eastern Ukraine holding a referendum to democratically decide their future – there is a three letter word which is conspicuous by its absence. Can you guess what it is yet?

I’ll give you a clue. As far back as the eighteenth century, the impoverished peasants of Drohobycz, then part of Poland, used to dig out rocks that contained a yellow vein known as Ozokerite – several dangerous and primitive methods were used to extract the foul smelling wax which was then used to make candles. Some of the peasants lived on land so polluted and sparse that it neither yielded crops nor rocks of Ozokerite – it oozed a dark sticky liquid that they would collect in buckets and sell in the local town as a lubricant for cart wheels.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that a peasant discovered a method of turning this sticky mud into something that eventually became a more reliable method of lighting your rooms. He couldn’t make candles from his land, but he could make Naphta which was used in oil lamps. It’s future was assured when the Austrian Emperor lit his fancy new railway station in Vienna with Naphta.

The apocalyptical scenery around Drohobycz, mountains of discarded rocks interspersed with pools of sticky oil, became one of the most desirable places on earth for a young man keen to make his fortune. Peasants who had eked out an existence trading hand made candles for food found that they could exchange their family lands for a fortune that would get them out of Drohobycz to somewhere more salubrious. The new landowners were Polish Jewish families who hired Boykos – peasants who had never owned any land and had no means of escape – to lower themselves into the smelly pits and bring back buckets of oil. The chaotic working conditions were appalling with derricks and trenches collapsing, toxic methane gas seeping from the primitive excavations and a constant threat of fire, which broke out and spread out of control frequently.

Some of the oil companies under Jewish ownership grew and became significant at the beginning of the modern oil industry. Polmin, Nafta, Bakenrot, Galicia and Gartner were just a few of the enterprises launched and operated by Jewish entrepreneurs. The lucrative industry and the increase in global demand for oil at the turn of the century attracted Austrian banks and international oil companies from Germany, England and Belgium. Luxurious buildings were established to house the regional headquarters of these international companies and the city’s infrastructure was improved.

When the Germans invaded Drohobycz and Boryslaw in 1941, they recognised the importance of the oil industry and continued to operate the wells and refineries. Drohobycz and Boryslaw were not bombarded by the approaching German army, the way many other polish towns were. However, the cold chilling numbers cannot be disputed. In 1939, 32,000 Jews called Drohobycz, Boryslaw and environs their home. After the Holocaust only 400 survived.

What is now Western Ukraine was the strip of land, Polish land, that the red army took over from the Third Reich – and never gave back. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that ‘Ukraine is a product of Mongol invasions and Polish colonialism.’ At the time of perestroika ‘Ukraine’ had no desire to be rejoined to its impoverished Polish origins, Poland was in no better state than they were; they wanted independence, a Ukrainian currency, Ukrainian ‘borders’, and control over the Russian nuclear arsenal then stored within the area.

They didn’t get the Russian nuclear arsenal; they got the job of clearing up after Chernobyl, a Ukrainian currency, and the social unrest concomitant with a population – in the Western Ukraine – reared by Nazi collaborators who had imbibed a hatred of Russia along with their mother’s milk. By now, oil fields had been discovered in the thick sediment in the Dnieper-Donetsk, the Black Sea, the Transcarpathian and Carpathian basins, as well as in the folded region of the Carpathians. Oh – and the responsibility of deciding which way to send the oil oozing from the ground – east to Russia, or west to Europe?

It was into this combustible mix of tribal loyalties, long held and justified grudges based on the holocaust, and the shareholder driven pressures of International Oil companies that the delicate footsteps of Baroness Catherine Ashton plodded. Europe, not Poland, not Russia, was to be the spiritual home of Ukraine; all Ukraine, the polish part, and the Russian dominated east, in fact she was prepared to put $15bn of Europe’s hard pressed tax payers money into ensuring that the oil flowed West. This was democracy in action!

$15 billion of European money, $5 billion of US money; much of it raised in the salons of – there’s a coincidence – the oil producing states of Texas.

Oil, the three letter word we hear so little of. In fact if you listen to the media you would think that we are on the verge of World War III in the name of democracy.

After recent US-initiated oil wars – Kuwait, Iraq, etc., fracking/shale was heralded as the beginning of the end of American dependency on offshore sources of black gold. But I suppose it’s unsurprising they are still at it, pretending ulterior motives.

Interesting to get the background to this latest hotspot of misfortune. Even without the oil it still seems to me to be foolhardy for the West to have meddled in the affairs of an ex bit of the USSR (however unwilling) at Russia’s border. And then there’s the port. Sure Putin may not be the most likeable leader, but there are plenty worse and in time he’ll move on or die, so why poke the stick in the hive now? I’m sure those calling the shots in Brussels and Washington game these things through, but the likely outcome isn’t good based on Iraq & Afghanistan. i.e. for the locals.

In an interview with De Standaard newspaper, Van Rompuy speaks about his “dreams” that all the Balkan states will join the EU. He calls it an “inspiring thought” that in the long term “the whole of European territory outside Russia” will be tied in some way to the EU.

He admits he does not know if there is public support for such a move, “But we do it anyway.”

Methane – the prime constituent of Natural Gas, is not toxic, simply flammable.

However, WikiP advises “Methane is also an asphyxiant and may displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia may result if the oxygen concentration is reduced to below about 16% by displacement, as most people can tolerate a reduction from 21% to 16% without ill effects.”

Well I reckon I am with Joe on this one – the barkeeper has already explained the naphtha issue (I think as this is a technical term I would have gone with the English spelling myself – but whatever…)

But a broader point is that minor errors in a document tend to detract from the piece – and I reckon one of the benefits of this interweb thing is that we can easily check and correct issues as they occur.

At the very least, it tells the author that at least someone is reading the article!

Quite so Hysteria – and I am always grateful to the army of sub-editors that police me – I learn a lot from them – not least not to put an apostrophe in MPs. I am a funny old thing though, and I usually prefer to leave the mistakes in place – and the comments pointing them out – rather than try to portray myself as being always perfect, when in fact I could never have been perfect without the aid of the sub editors…. I agree with you about the distraction that minor errors can make – but I also like to show the interaction, and the learning process, that occurs between myself and those who bother to read a piece.

“By now, oil fields had been discovered in the thick sediment in the Dnieper-Donetsk, the Black Sea, the Transcarpathian and Carpathian basins, as well as in the folded region of the Carpathians. Oh – and the responsibility of deciding which way to send the oil oozing from the ground – east to Russia, or west to Europe?”

Russia have no need of Ukrainian oil, such as it is, as it has a massive oil industry. In fact, it appears the Ukranian oil pipeline is used to carry Russian oil to the west. So, Russia are quite happy with the oil pipeline going to the west!

I’m not sure if oil is a red herring, just as it was in Iraq…. any oil in Laughganistan? The antipathy towards Russia is because they’re being nasty towards gay people. If it was about oil NATO would have gone into the Yewkraine already

The culture wars play a part – but that’s window dressing surely. There’s definitely a fear of Russian power based because of it’s natural resources. It was instructive to see Gazprom continually advertised during the all German European Cup final at Wembley. But Ukraine is a little like the population disputes prior to the 2nd World War isn’t it? Ethnic German had lived in the various countries for centuries – the Sudetan Germans for instance in Czechoslovakia possibly pre-dated the Slav Czechs. It was the Lebensraum Fatherland ideology that led the Nazis to invade under the pretext of persecution. Here it seems there’s almost a Western will to bait the invasion of Eastern Ukraine by the Russians – presumably so they can dub Putin the new ‘Hitler’. But the overall divide appears to be one of religion – with Orthodox countries/ communities siding with ‘Mother Russia’ and the others towards the West. v. interesting article. thank you Anna.

@Margaret Jervis When Russia was powerless, NATO did not hesitate to bomb Serbia and Blair started to develop his God Complex. There was no oil in Yugoslavia. It was the ‘uman Rights Brigade. The Shock troops of the 21st century.

But it was the orthodox Serbs who were allied with Russia who were the baddies wasn’t it? Not the Croatians (former Nazi allies) the Bosnian Croats/Muslims (Islamist connections) or Kosovan Albanians (take your pick). Memories live long in this neck of this woods, and grudges. Anybody heard how Kosova is shaping up recently?

I recall watching a documentary by the BBC in Mostar as the whole thing began to die down and the BBC wallah intoned that it would be three generations before the people could even begin to live together again. A couple of years later I watched a Holiday Show and it was saying that Mostar would be a great place for a cheap holiday, the countryside was beautiful, the town a marvel, and the people there were really friendly. Go figure.

The USA poured cash into the Bolshevic Revolution The USA SAVED the Soviet Union in WW2 The USA GAVE half of europe to the Soviet Union in 1945 So ,a few million to the Ukraine is just another throw of the dice, so what.

Yes, I thought that was the UK’s role – all those Artic Convoys of the essential war materiel we could have well used ourselves. All used to shore up a dysfunctional regime that threw unarmed men at German machine gun nests and then slaughtered those who had the temerity to retreat. Not one step back! No indeed.

I remember reading about raiding parties from north of the Crimea causing mayhem every summer. They were alleged to be Tatars, which is how we used to say goodbye. These horsemen pillaged, burned stole and the usual. Made the place hardly worth living in. Like our ‘Borders’, though maybe worse. It seems to have been always a fought over, troubled place. Woe betide anyone that has oil and has borders to encroach over! Russians seem to like a man who flexes his muscles. Amazing that Gorbachov even got a foot in the door. It has had some vicious persons in charge over the centuries, they just can’t seem to let that go. They murdered a gentle Tsar Nicholas. Put a mass murderer in his place. I have always had a worry that Putin would manipulate this kind of destructive process. Never mind about the USA. Look at Chechnya

Russians and Ukrainians have “rubbed along” fairly well since the end of WW2, but there is no love lost between Russians (particularly Crimean ones) and their near western Ukraine neighbours. In the west the religion – as far as anyone is religious – is Catholic; in eastern Ukraine it’s Orthodox, and more likely to be practiced. The big friction arises out of WW2 when the Nazis invaded and many western Ukrainians saw them as “liberators” and many voluntarily joined the Wehrmacht. (The first “German” soldiers captured on D-day – actually by US Rangers – were Ukrainians, who said they were forced to fight in the Wehrmacht.) WW2 – known as the Second Great Patriotic War in Russia – is always, and always will be, commemorated with great feeling in Russia; the Soviet Union lost 22+ millions (official figure) during it – a much higher percentage than any other nation. They will never forget their sacrifices made in human life, whatever excuse Baroness Ashton might think up.

“In the west the religion – as far as anyone is religious – is Catholic; in eastern Ukraine it’s Orthodox”

I’m not sure it is so simple. The most common Christian denomination in Ukraine is Ukrainian Orthodox, which is eastern in character. The second is the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Orthodox church, which has eastern orthodox liturgy while remaining in communion with Rome and acknowledging the supremacy of the Pope. This latter has suffered centuries of persecution at the hands of Cossacks, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The tension between east and west religion and culture has been pulling Ukraine apart for a thousand years and is unlikely to be resolved in our lifetimes.

Hard to keep track of the financial manoeuvrings, though it is my recollection that the IMF and EU were the two foremost lenders. I don’t know how Texas oil-men got involved, (though the landlady is scrupulous about researching her articles), perhaps Ukraine invited the investment in which case I see nothing sinister. Of course, the IMF and EU has NO money but levies it’s members, who give the loan expecting some return (like the pretend situation in Greece), and once-again the member countries have NO money so they float (or is kite a better word) a bond at the central bank, created from nothing but pixels. So once again your reliance on the British pound means your pension has just been reduced by inflation, but you get to feel smug about supporting the EU “project”-three cheers for Cathy Ashton, pfffft. And today brings more good news, The Russians will cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine on 3 June unless the deadbeats pay in advance for that months gas, from memory that is not possible without cutting off Europe’s supply. So further loans will be required at ever higher interest rates, which will likely not be repaid unless further assets are sold off. All this and death and destruction to satisfy Cathy Ashton’s and Victoria Nuland’s juvenile project of “democracy” in Ukraine, another Obama project off the rails before it gets started like Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Tunisia. Hope-and-change and death-and-destruction. If ever you are looking for some-one to blame it’s a good bet it will be a politician operating way outside his/her capabilities rather than an oil-man.